Stringed musical instrument



(No Model.)

G. A. FULLERTON. STRINGBD MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

No. 557,662. Patented Apr. 7, 1896..

ATTORNEY.

AN DHENV E GRAM'NI4 PHOTOUTHUWSIH N 510K. 0.0

UNITED STATES GEORGE ARTHUR FULLERTON, OF

PATENT OEEICE.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES E. MAYNADIER, TRUSTEE, OF TAUNTON, MASSAOlll/TSETTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 557,662, dated April *7, 1896.

Application filed July 19, 1895.

T all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE ARTHUR FUL- LERTON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Stringed Musical Instrument,

of which the following is a speciiication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a rear elevation of a harp emro bodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a partial edge view showing the junction of one of the finishing side pieces with the head piece. Fig. 4c is a partial edge view showing the junction of one of the iinishing side pieces with the footpiece.

My invention is a sounding-board between a head-piece and a foot-piece forced toward each other by the strain of the strings, two sets of strings being used to increase the compression strain on the sounding-board, and also to prevent deflection of the soundingboard under that strain. lleretofcre the strain of the strings has always been sustained by a frame, and although two sets of strings have been used, one set on one side and the other set on the other side of that frame, yet the strain-of the strings, whether one set or two sets, has always been upon the frame and not upon the somiding-board; and my instrument is the first in which the strain of the strings was borne by a head-piece and a footpiece held apart by the sounding-board.

ln the drawings, A is the sounding-board, properly secured to the head-piece B, and the board carries across its lower end the foot-piece D. Each string F F is secured to lits tuning-pin f, as usual, at one end, but passes around the foot-piece D and issecured to the stay-pin f' at its upper end, as shown in the drawings.

Then the front strings F are tuned, the strain, even with a harp of the kind shown in the drawings, would be altogether too great to be sustained by the sounding-board A, if that strain were all at one side of that board; but by using the rear strings F and straining them properly the strain upon the sounding-board is a compressing strain rather than a defleeting strain, and a sounding-board of the usual thickness is made not only well able Serial No. 556,492. (No model.)

to sustain this double strain, but in addition the great compression due to the double strain much improves the quality of the soundingboard.

lheoretically the best way of embodying my invention is to mount the foot-piece D symm etrieally on the lower edge of the so unding-board A, and to arrange the head-piece B symmetrically on the upper edge of the sounding-board A, straining the front strings F and the rear strings F equally; but practically this is objectionable, and itis practically better to mount the sounding-board A on the front of the head-piece B, as shown in the drawings, and to groove the foot-piece D a little to one side of its middle, as shown in Figs. 2 and et, to receive the lower end of the sounding-board, as this leaves room between the rear strings F and the back of the soundingboard A for a bridge G, which can be set on a slant and thereby prevent improper deflection of the sounding-board by reason of the strain of the front strings F differing from the strain of the rear strings F. This bridge G at the back of a sounding-board,which supports the double strain of front and back strings, in combination with the head and foot' piece, the sounding-board, and the front and back strings, is one feature of my invention.

ln tuning the harp shown in the drawings, straining the front strings F by the tuningpins f also strains the rear strings F,as the strings render over the foot-piece D, which in practice is shed with a strip of sheet metal, when the foot-piece D is of wood, to prevent the strings cutting into it, and this rendering is facilitated by pressing on and rubbing the back strings F with a short stick of wood from time to time while tuning the front strings F. lf the sounding-board A show any wind, it can be straightened by adjusting thebridge-piece G. rluning-pins maybe used with the back strings F/ g but they are unnecessary when the bridge-piece G is used.

In Fig. 2 l have shown only two strings, for the reason that an attempt to show more would lead to confusion.

The two strings shown in Fig. 2 are marked x in Fig. l. I have shown the sounding-board A with the usual braces a.

The instrument is complete without the flu- Ioo /I ishing-pieces Il H or the covering-strip J when used as a part of a piano; but when used as a harp or cithern these pieces are necessary to enable the instrument to be handled and laid upon a table without injury to the rear strings F. The pieces H H may also aid somewhat in sustaining the ends of the foot-piece D; but this is not important. The covering-strip J is as usual in instruments of this class, and is a finish for the lower end of the instrument.

l am aware of the patent to Bourry, No. 322,154, dated July 14, 1885; to Payne, No. 158,116, dated December 22, 1874, and of the British patent to Matthews, No. 2,939, of 1867, and disclaim all shown in them, and in particular I disclaim a musical instrument with a frame under strain from two sets of strings and with a sounding-board, whether secured to the frame, as in Bourry and in Payne, or held between the front and bach sets of strings, as in Matthews, for in my instrument the strings are secured to foot and head pieces, and these two pieces are held apart by the sounding-board, so that when the instrument is in tune my sounding-board is greatly compressed lengthwise, and has a quality, due to the fact that its fibers arc under great strain, which is wholly new with me. Moreover, the head and foot pieces cannot sag or yield at the middle portions, and

no struts are required between them, which is in itself a feature of great practical importance.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In a stringed musical instrument the thin fiat sheet of wood A; cross-piece B across one edge of sheet A; rod D across the opposite edge of sheet A; front and rear strings F F' extending on both sides of sheet A and about rod D; and means for straining those strings; the double strain of the strings being borne by sheet A as a strut; all combined and arranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a stringed musical instrument the thin iiat sheet of wood A; cross-piece B across one edge of sheet A; rcd D across the opposite edge of sheet A; front and rear strings F F extending on both sides of sheet Aand about rod D; means for straining these strings; and a strip G, between the rear strings F and sheet A, by which undue buckling of sheet A under the strain of ihe strings maybe prevented by adjusting the strip G, all combined and arranged substantially as and for the purpose speciiied.

GEORGE ARTHUR FULLERTON. Vitnesses:

O. R. MITCHELL, XVM. MAYNADIER. 

